Posted by Leticia Lago, Developer Advertising and marketing

In our newest #WeArePlay movie, we’re spotlighting Tessa and Saasha – greatest mates turned co-founders of Olio. They’ve been on a mission to assist folks scale back waste by encouraging communities to share, promote or give-away what they not want – from leftover meals to home items. The app now helps thousands and thousands take one huge step nearer to residing in a zero waste world.

Rising up on a farm, Tessa shortly discovered how a lot onerous work goes into producing meals. In the meantime, Saasha spent her childhood serving to her household make ends meet via scavenging objects that others threw away. Once they finally met in faculty, they bonded over their ardour to assist to save lots of the atmosphere via recycling and decreasing waste.

Nevertheless it wasn’t till Tessa was someday shifting nations when the concept for Olio got here – she couldn’t pack leftover meals in air-freight, and couldn’t simply discover anybody to take it. Feeling like this was a missed alternative, she advised Saasha concerning the concept for a food-sharing app. Saasha immediately knew she needed to assist make this app a actuality, and so Olio was born. Tessa believes that “if nobody else is taking motion then we’ve got to take motion”.

Initially developed to encourage folks to provide away their surplus meals, over time Olio has developed so that folks can provide away any objects that might have a second life. It’s now utilized in 62 nations, and Olio additionally companions with supermarkets and eating places with the assistance of Meals Waste Heroes – volunteers who gather and redistribute surplus meals – saving an estimated 1 million meals per week. Trying to the longer term, Saasha says their ambition is “to create a world during which sharing turns into the brand new regular”.

You may learn extra inspiring tales, together with these that includes LGTBQ+ apps celebrating Satisfaction Month, at g.co/play/weareplay.